Profile of the Day: The Brothers Grimm

This week, the U.S. celebrates National Library Week. In honor of this literary celebration, we’re highlighting folktale storytellers the Brothers Grimm. Did you know Jacob Grimm also served as royal librarian for Napoleon Bonaparte‘s brother, Jérôme, King of Westphalia? Influenced by the rise of German romanticism in the 19th century, Jacob and his brother Wilhelm collected and recorded the folklore of their region, with an emphasis on recording German oral storytelling. Their collection would later be known as Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Versions of these folktales continue to endure today, such as the stories of “Cinderella,” “Snow White” and “Hanzel and Gretel.”